


Looking Backward: A Yellow MemoryLocke

by glancesherlock



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Red & Green & Blue & Yellow | Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Versions
Genre: Coming of Age, Family Feels, Gen, Memories, Nostalgia, Nuzlocke Challenge, Original Pokemon Trainer - Freeform, Pokemon - Freeform, Pokemon Fanfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-01-17 12:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12365469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glancesherlock/pseuds/glancesherlock
Summary: As a young girl named Renny Crimson prepares to become a trainer, she begins to receive mental snapshots of the author's life. These visions and her adventures cause her to question everything she's come to know in this story about family ties, truths, and lies.





	1. This Time in This Place

**Author's Note:**

> This is a personal, self-reflective storylocke of Pokemon Yellow, which will include some real-world events alongside the main story. Nearly 30 chapters have already been posted to the Official Nuzlocke Forums. If you'd like to read it there, [click here](http://s7.zetaboards.com/Nuzlocke_Forum/topic/9310921/1/)

The neighbors are having a preemptive pot legalization party again. I can't stand the smell. Probably would have tried weed a long time ago if I could.

My keys are lost somewhere in the black hole that is my purse. I sigh. It's been a long day of work at the lab. My feet hurt like hell. I take everything out: wallet, headphones, book... There they are. I force the lock. It's always been a hassle to get this door open.

The smell of weed disappears as I enter my apartment and is replaced with a different scent. I couldn't tell you what it is. I don't even want to know. My cat Eevee runs to greet me. I smile and scratch her ears. She rubs against my leg as I move to the kitchen counter to set down my purse. I take off my engagement ring. My fingers are swollen from sweating inside the gloves at work. They reek of latex.

I wash my hands, trying to ignore the disastrous state my kitchen is in. When was the last time C---- or I did dishes? Or had anything resembling a cleanly living space?

I sigh and plop myself onto the couch. The living room is just as bad as the kitchen. Junk everywhere. Boxes filled with our belongings are piled high in the hallway. Despite all that's been packed, I feel like we haven't made a dent in this place. How did we fit so much stuff in this little apartment?

Eevee jumps on the couch and curls up next to me. I pet her head and stare at the ceiling. In a few days we'll be able to start moving things into our new house. And a week after that I'll be in Belgium, filming a documentary. I should be elated, but despite the good things and the pills my depression has dipped. I barely eat. Can't afford food, not that I would have the motivation to cook it if we could. I suppose the stress of it all is getting to me.

I take ten minutes to find the energy to stand. I move into the office. I take an empty box and start filling it. There's no organization. I just want it all put away. Between my desk and a heavy set of wooden drawers I find my 3DS case. I open it to make sure it's in there. It is, along with no less than a dozen Pokemon games. There isn't enough slots in the case to hold them all, but I've made it work. I check which game is in the console. Y Version. Damn, what a good one. I think about Alistair's Odyssey, the story I based off of my run. Seriously need to get back to work on that at some point.

I get nostalgic. I abandon my work and take my 3DS into our bedroom. I flip through the games. It's been a while since I've started one anew. But I don't want to delete any of these save files. Then I remember... Nintendo released Red, Blue, and Yellow in the eShop back in February. I check my bank account on my phone. Funds are low (as usual), but I could swing ten dollars. Call it a mental health purchase.

Eevee is stretched out on the bed next to me. Precious thing, she always has to be in the same room as me. I accidently startle her as I make a quick trip to the kitchen to retrieve my wallet. It feels strange typing credit card information into what is basically the descendant of my GameBoy Color, but I've done it. I wait for the game to install... It's ready.

Grabbing a blanket, I settle myself in. I feel like I'm six years old again as I press start. I grin with glee as I watch Pikachu run towards me...

_"..._

_"..._

_"Oh... Oh? My, my, my. Look who it is. Goodness, how long- let's see... Seventeen years? You've grown so much. What happened to your glasses? Where have you been? What have you been doing?_

_"Could you please... Please tell me?_

_"I've missed you._

_"..._

_"I've been alone all this time."_


	2. Enter the MemoryLocke

Every Sunday at 2pm, Mom visits our neighbor Professor Oak. She has other scheduled days with him during the week, but because of school this is the only day I can tag along. I don't always go, but yesterday I had used my allowance money to buy a six-pack of Ditto Cola in some old-fashioned glass bottles, and I wanted to share with Gary.

I waited by the entryway, six-pack in hand, for Mom to finish getting ready. I could see her walking back and forth in the kitchen, grabbing things and putting them in her nursing bag. She was wearing her favorite scrubs today: light green with sleeping Jigglypuffs all over. Her name tag was attached to her breast pocket. I asked her once why she even bothered with the uniform. We had known the Oak family for forever. "The good professor may be our friend, but he is still my patient," she had explained. "It would be unprofessional to go in my street clothes."

Mom snatched up her house keys from a chair in the living room. She asked if I was ready. I was.

Opening the door, I yelled, "Bye, Dr. Thunder!" and waved to a Slowpoke snoozing on the couch. Though asleep, he was in the process of rolling on his back- and had been for the past twenty minutes. Dr. T had been in the family since Mom brought him home as a present for my sixth birthday. I named him myself, thinking he would be a hardcore fighter. Imagine my surprise.

We walked next door to the Oaks residence. The professor had a really, really, really long driveway and a huge yard to boot. The place was practically a ranch. There were barns, ponds, a large patches of trees- all for Pokemon that lived there. Before his retirement, Professor Oak would select three kids from Pallet Town every spring and gift them with their first Pokemon. Most of the time they went on to compete in the Yellow Division of the Pokemon League, a region-wide battling competition that happened every summer. Many of their 'mons were sent back here, since League trainers can only have six on them at a time, and so old man Oak had taken care of them. Some trainers either forgot or left behind some of their companions, so every year there was always a new, permanent edition to the ranch. Being domesticated, there was no way they could go back to living in the wild. And there were dozens of them!

To put it short, I had the coolest next-door neighbor ever.

I knocked on the front door. I walked a lot faster than mom did, so she hadn't made it to the porch yet.

A young woman answered the door. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy half-ponytail. She looked tired, but she smiled enthusiastically at me.

"Renny? Oh my god!"

"Hey, Daisy!"

She put her hand on top of my head and moved it to herself, comparing my height. I came up to her chin.

"Jeeze, you and Gary both just shot right up."

I nodded, never knowing what to say when people compliment my growth spurt. Fortunately Daisy turned her attention to my mom, who was walking up the steps.

"Hey, Mrs. Crimson."

"Hello, Daisy." Mom hugged her. "When did you get back?"

"Late last night. My train was delayed."

Mom started asking her about college and how her finals went, but I slipped past them and entered the house.

The curtains were drawn, allowing the early afternoon light to shine in. That's how I could always tell if Daisy was home. Neither the professor nor Gary ever bothered to open them. Every room was filled with Pokemon knick-knacks and books, and the walls were covered with pictures of Daisy and Gary, plus awards and newspaper articles about the professor's accomplishments. The place was a bit cramped, the carpet was ancient, and it always smelled like an old diner mixed with lemon-scented wood polish, but it was my home away from home.

I moved down the hall and knocked on Gary's door to the cadence of "shave and a haircut."

"Who is it?"

"It's me, loser."

"Just a second, dumb-butt."

Gary and I had grown up in an intense rivalry, ever since he and Daisy moved into town to live with their grandpa. He had encroached on my territory of being the smart kid in class, and I didn't like that one bit. We would race to see who could finish tests faster. Sometimes we would even run to the teacher's desk, trying to beat the other one there and lay our paper down first. During gym class we would purposefully trip each other and called each other things that had landed us in the principal's office more times than I could count. Gary turned out to be way smarter than me, but I could run circles around him in any given sport. The competition had settled down over the years as we became friends, but the name-calling remained.

One of these days he would actually have the balls to drop a swear word and call me "dumbass." And on that day, I'll be so proud.

When he opened the door, I held up my six-pack of cola.

"Hey, look what I found."

"Oh, nice. Where'd you get that?"

"The Old Mart got some in the other day. You wanna sit on the bridge, put these in paper bags, and pretend it's booze?"

"Um, duh." He ran his fingers through his hair. This kid had a mop on his head so wild it never laid down, no matter how hard he tried. "Just gotta take out the garbage first."

I caught something out of the corner of my eye that made me jump. I turned to see Professor Oak slowly making his way down the hall. He stopped and leaned against his cane when he saw me.

"Ah! Renny. Good to see you."

"Hey, professor."

He patted my shoulder as he walked by. Gary and I watched him go. He seemed unusually slow today.

The professor lowered himself into his armchair as Mom went through her bag. She took out a blood pressure monitor and rolled up his sleeve. I waited by the front door as Gary tended to the trash.

Mom wrapped the professor's arm and squeezed the pump. "And how are you feeling today?"

"Fine, fine." He cleared his throat. "Glad to have Daisy home."

"I'm sure you are." She checked the gauge. "Blood pressure looks good... Did you take your cocktail today?"

"Oh, yes."

She looked to Gary for confirmation. He shook his head. She sighed and put away the monitor. Moving about the room, she opened cupboards and looked behind couch pillows- his usual hiding places. This time the pills were in the sugar bowl. That was a new one.

Mom held up the bag of pill bottles and cleared her throat.

"Oh..." Oak tapped his fingers together innocently. "How did those get in there?"

"Sam, we've gone over this. You can't miss a day."

"I know, I know," He waved his hand dismissively. I frowned. Just a couple years ago he was always out and about, taking care of the Pokemon, going for walks, giving guest-lectures at Celadon University. Now I wasn't sure if he could make it fifty feet out the front door without a rest. It was crazy how fast his old age caught up with him.

Mom brought him his pills and a glass of water. He took them reluctantly. By this point, Gary had returned from his chore and was slipping on his tennis shoes.

"Gramps, Renny and I are gonna head out to the river."

"Huh? Oh, okay. Don't get lost."

Gary sighed. "It's just in the back yard, Gramps."

Oak furrowed his brow. "Oh right. Right..."

"Oh, Renny!" She caught me as I was following Gary out the door.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"If you don't get back before my shift, there's some leftover spaghetti in the fridge."

My reply was rapid as I ran out of the house. "Sounds good. See ya!"

The Viridian River was the second longest river in Kanto (the first was the Cerulean). It started all the way at a lake in the Indigo Plateau and emptied out into the sea, just a few miles south of our small town of Pallet. It narrowed quite a bit when it reached town, and part of it cut through the Oaks' property. An old stone bridge had been built long before the professor had decided to settle here, and Gary and I hung out there a lot. It was our spot.

We sat on the bridge, legs dangling above the slow-moving current below. I cracked open a couple bottles of Ditto Cola and handed one to Gary. We put them in the paper bags he had grabbed from the kitchen, clinked them together, and took a large drink. We looked out at the water.

"Yup," he stated.

"Yup," I agreed.

Dorks are we.

I took another drink. "Man, how excited are you for high school next year?"

"I'm so ready. Middle school sucks."

"Two more weeks 'till summer vacation."

"Two more freaking weeks."

I scratched my shoulder. Mom had bought me my first training bra last month, and I still wasn't used to wearing it. Darn thing was itchy and uncomfortable.

"You guys going up to the Cerulean again this summer?" I asked him.

Gary shrugged. "I'm not sure if we're gonna make it. Daisy and I aren't sure Gramps can handle it."

"He's that bad?"

Gary rubbed the back of his neck. He always did something like this when he was uncomfortable. "He wandered outside again a few nights ago. It's a good thing our screen door is so loud, or else I don't think I would have noticed he was gone until morning."

"Jeeze."

"He was trying to find his car. He forgot we sold it. He said he wanted to visit Dad and apologize."

"Oh! Oh, wow... For what?"

"He didn't say." He leaned back on his hand. "And then Friday before I left for school, he just straight up forgot my name. He stared at me for a solid minute, then gave up."

Damn. "Man, Gary. That really sucks."

"Yeah, I know."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Gary stared ahead, and I could tell he was thinking about his grandpa. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't good with this sort of thing, but I wanted to take his mind off it.

I looked around the yard. We were facing the barns, and I could see some of the farmhands tending to the Pokemon. On the side of the largest barn was a large scorch mark. I grinned.

"Hey," I nudged Gary. "Remember when we pissed off that Rapidash, and it nearly burned down the big barn?"

That immediately brought him out of his melancholy state. "Oh god, Gramps was so mad! I'd never seen his face so red."

"We were shoveling Taurus crap for a month."

"Oh, believe me. I did way more than that."

This took us off on a tangent, and we started talking about Pokemon, Pokemon training, and that brought us to the League. It would be starting in a month. We didn't say it, but I knew we were thinking the same thing: this was the first year we were old enough for an official League trainer's license. For the longest time, the professor talked about giving us our own starter Pokemon when we hit age thirteen, if we wanted it. We had spent countless hours talking about the pros and cons of each one. I think in the end Gary had decided on Charmander. I was leaning towards Squirtle. Some third random kid would have gotten the Bulbasaur.

But that was a while ago. Now I was afraid to bring it up. It was possible the professor had forgotten about it altogether, and I didn't want to make Gary upset again.

I couldn't tell you how much time passed, but at some point I saw Mom leave the Oaks' residence, walk home, and get in her car to drive to the hospital in Viridian City. She wouldn't be back from her shift until ten this evening.

Eventually we reached the bottom of our cola bottles. Now, Ditto Cola was pretty decent on its own, but the best part about these glass bottles was the label. On the inside of every one was a different Pokemon with some fun fact about it. You could only tell which one you got if you drank the whole thing (or if you were a cheating loser and tore it off beforehand). One of my bedroom walls was covered with them.

We took the bottles out of the plastic bags for the grand reveal.

"What'd you get?" Gary asked.

"Zubat. Lame, I have like fifteen of these."

"I got an Alakazam."

"Whoa, really? I haven't even seen one of those! What does is say?"

Gary had to squint to read the label through the glass, but it said, "A Pokemon that can memorize anything. It never forgets what it learns- that's why this Pokemon is so smart."

"Sweet."

"Here," he offered it to me.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I don't collect them."

"Thanks." I took the bottle from him.

Gary suddenly snapped up. "Oh, frick! What time is it?"

"Uhh..." I looked at my watch. "It's nearly 4."

"Dangit!" He swung his legs over the side of the bridge and dropped down on the cobblestone. "I was supposed to go to Viridian City to pick up Gramps' meds! He's out of one of them!"

I quickly put the empty bottles in the cardboard carrier and followed after him towards the house.

"Daisy's gonna kill me," he was saying. "She's got this big meeting tonight, and we can't leave Gramps by himself! Plus it's Sunday- the Mart closes at six on Sundays!"

Viridian City was about a two-hour walk away. One and a half if you were booking it. He probably wouldn't make it in time.

"Hey!" I caught up to him. The guy can move when he really wants to. "I can go."

He stopped. "Are you sure?"

"I run cross-country, Gary, I can make it there before 5:30."

He hesitated. "I don't want to ask you, but-"

"Dude, I'm offering."

He hugged me tightly. "Holy crap, thank you!"

A few minutes later I was on my way out of town, heading north. In my pocket, I had a letter and a receipt from Gary to give to the clerk at the Mart. "They'll think it's weird that someone else is picking this up," he had explained. "Make sure you give these to them."

As I jogged passed the last couple homes in Pallet, I realized that this was the first time I had gone to Viridian City on my own. Before I always had Mom or Gary or somebody with me. I kept to the road, not going in the tall switch grass that grew along the route. We don't have any too dangerous around here, though I couldn't help but recall something that happened when I was five.

I had gotten it in my head that I was going to go off and find my dad (no one had bothered to tell me that he had been shipped off to Sinnoh for the war, and I thought he was lost somewhere). I was walking through the grass, which had been like a jungle back then, when I accidentally disturbed a nest of baby Ekans. Their mother struck at me immediately and bit my leg. I couldn't walk, and it hurt like hell.

My mom had rallied a frantic search party, and it was the professor who ended up finding me. He carried me all the way back to his lab and treated the wound himself. Once he was sure I was okay, he gave me a long lecture about how I should never, ever, ever go into tall grass alone. Later Mom told me that if he hadn't found me when he did, my leg could have become paralyzed or worse... It was so long ago, and I'm sure that I could take care of myself now, but his warning always stuck with me. I guess it was ingrained into my head now.

There was loud rustling to my right, and I jumped, halfway expecting another Ekans to jump out at me. Instead three Pidgeys took to the air, cooing as they went. I nearly kicked myself.

"And you want to be a Pokemon League trainer," I muttered.

I checked my watch. I was making great time. Twenty minutes in, and I was about a third of the way there. I slowed to a walk to give myself a break. I had to pace myself for this.

Eventually the road began to curve west, but a pedestrian road continued north. It was much narrower and led through a thicket of trees, but it would be faster. I took it.

Fifteen minutes later I went back to jogging. For a while I saw nothing but a Rattata digging in the ground, but then... I heard it.

At first it was just a low hum, and I thought that a car was passing nearby, but that wasn't it. The noise grew louder and erupted to what I can only describe as an electric shock. I stopped and turned in the direction of the sound. Something was running through the bushes, about thirty feet off the path. I couldn't see what it was, but it seemed agitated. I wondered if I had startled something.

There was a loud cry. A Spearow burst out of the brush, a barrage of... lightening(?!) surrounding it. That same electric sound echoed through the woods. We usually don't find electric-type Pokemon around Pallet, so I couldn't tell you what it was. But there was certainly something in there.

"Whoa!" I didn't stick around to see what the thing was. I was so gone!

The rest of the journey to Viridian City went without incident, but I jogged the whole way. By the time I reached the city limits I was completely out of breath. I leaned forward, putting my hands on my knees, heaving. I checked my watch: 5:23. Plenty of time.

There was only one clerk left working at the Mart, and I found her stocking shelves in the food aisle. Marts were everywhere, but they were small. Not every store carried the same stock. For example, the one in Pallet Town never received prescription medication. Thus this little trip to Viridian.

It took a while to convince her, but once she checked that the receipt was legitimate and that the signature on the letter was indeed Gary's, she entrusted me with Oak's shipment... which was a box about the size of my head. Damn, I thought. Just how many pills does Mom have the guy on?!

"Oh, before you leave..." The clerk motioned to a display on the counter advertising some kind of Pokemon healing potion. The sign read, NEW! FROM SILPH! Small spray bottles were arranged in a pyramid. "We're giving out free samples of Silph Co's new product. You have any Pokemon?"

"I have a Slowpoke at home."

"You should take one, then. I heard it works great. Saves tons of visits to the Pokemon Center."

I was too tired to explain that Dr. Thunder was a pet and not a battler, but I took one anyway. I thanked her, put the bottle in my pocket, and headed out.

The way back was slower because of the box. I couldn't see my feet as well, and I didn't want to risk tripping by running.

I was nearing the spot where I saw that Spearow get attacked, and I quickened my pace. I doubted the thing was still here, but being electrocuted did not sound fun. I just wanted to get home.

I was almost out of the woods (literally) when I heard loud rustling behind me. Like, right behind me. I was already tense, and this set me off. Remember how I just said I wasn't going to run? Well, I sprinted. And I tripped and fell, landing right on top of the box. There was a loud rip as part of the package tore open. Cursing, I rolled over to my side to look at the damage.

The contents included small bag with the Kanto pharmaceutical logo, which must have been Oak's medication, but the box mostly contained… PokeBalls? Yes, PokeBalls and a smaller package with a letter taped to it.

There wasn't time for me to ponder over this, because the electric noise sounded nearby. I looked up to see the source.

It was a Pikachu. It paced back and forth, sparks dancing around its red cheeks. I had never seen one in person before. Only on TV in League matches and in Silph Co. commercials. Their cuteness was pretty marketable, and they had become the mascot of the company.

This one didn't look cute, though. This one looked wild and ragged and pissed. Mud clung to its unkempt fur, and part of its tail was missing.

Without taking my eyes off it, I slowly pushed the items back into the box. Maybe if I moved gingerly enough, it wouldn't attack.

"Easy," I whispered. "You do you, and I'll do me." I have no idea if it understood me, but talking helped calm myself down. "I'm just gonna..." I moved to stand, but the Pikachu bared its teeth and growled. "Okay, okay!" I put my hands up. "Not going to hurt you. I promise."

But what if it decided to hurt me? I could grab the box and run, but Pikachu were fast. If it was really adamant about going after me, it would catch up in an instant. But we couldn't just stay here at a standoff forever. One of us had to make the first move.

Reaching for the package, I tried standing again. It didn't like that movement, and a small bit of lightening shot out and struck the ground near my feet. I screamed, which agitated it even more. Sparks surrounded its whole body.

My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. What was I gonna do?! I had nothing to defend myself with. Nothing but what I had in the box, and none of that was going to do me any-

Holy shit.

The Pikachu crouched. It looked ready to attack. I snatched a PokeBall out of the box. Can I do this? Am I doing this?

More sparks.

I'm doing this.

I chucked the ball. It smacked the Pikachu right in the face and landed on the ground next to it. Nothing happened. I never did understand how those things worked.

The Pikachu released a wave of electricity. I covered my head with my free arm. The attack must have activated the PokeBall, because it opened and the 'mon disappeared into it in a flash of light. The sight dazed me, and my legs suddenly felt weak. Like jelly. Did the thing's attack hit me? Am I paralyzed now?

I don't remember falling, but I was on the ground, staring at the sky. The clouds moved like someone had hit the fast forward button on the world's remote and formed together in one, large body. Everything was white...

_I sit at my desk. It's late at night. I have work in the morning, but I don't care. My best friend is laughing on my computer screen at something I just said. It's so good to see her, even if it is over Skype._

_"How's Florida treating you?" I ask._

_"It's alright. I have a job interview in a couple days."_

_"Oh, nice. Where?"_

_"Just this bar over by Universal."_

_"Hey, it's a way in."_

_"Yeah. Just wish that graphic artist guy would get back to me."_

_"I'm sure he will." I fiddle with a pencil on my desk. "Finally got all my books packed today."_

_"That's good."_

_"I'm so excited to get out of here."_

_"I feel you." She sighs. "You need to come visit sometime when you get back from Belgium."_

_"I will, once I can afford the plane ticket." I grab my deerstalker off of my empty bookshelf and place it on my head. "I am lost without my Watson."_


	3. Hamish

The sun was low in the sky when I came to. I checked my watch. It was almost 7:30. Gary would probably start freaking out soon.

I rolled over to my side. The box and all its contents was still there. When I sat up I saw the PokeBall I had thrown at the Pikachu. I approached it, wondering if it had actually worked. I picked it up. It was heavier than before. There was definitely a Pokemon in there.

Taking a deep breath, I rubbed my forehead and tried to make sense of what just happened. I had captured a Pokemon... illegally. Not only did I not have a trainer's license, but this ball was definitely not registered in my name. These were from Silph Co, too. Expensive. The good stuff. None of that glitchy, off-brand nonsense. The fine for what I did must be huge. I should just let the thing go right now.

I was about to press the button to open the ball when I remembered how aggressive this Pikachu had been. If it was mad before, I couldn't imagine what it would be like now. I shoved the ball in my pocket. I would take care of it later.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, the rest of the walk home was lost to me. I was almost back at Gary's when I fully realized that I was in Pallet Town. It was dusk now.

Gary answered the door almost as soon as I knocked. "Hey," he whispered. "Gramps is asleep."

"Gotchya." I matched my voice's volume to his and presented the box to him. "Here ya go."

He furrowed his brow, but still took it. "What happened?"

"Long story. Everything's still in there, though." I hesitated, not wanting to lie but still a little embarrassed. "Well, except one thing." I took the PokeBall out of my pocket. "I sort of caught a wild Pikachu on my way here."

"What!" Gary flinched at his own exclamation. He lowered his voice back to a whisper. "You did what?"

"It attacked me, I panicked!"

He blinked, thoughts clearly racing through his mind. "One sec."

He disappeared into the house for a moment and came out, sans box. He stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind him.

"Can I see?"

"Sure." I handed him the ball. "Don't open it, though. This thing is super violent."

He moved it up and down, testing the weight. "Yeah, it's in there, alright."

"What am I gonna do? I could go to juvie for this!"

Gary nearly laughed. "No, you won't. If Gramps ordered some PokeBalls, then they'd all be registered under his name. We can just explain what happened in the morning. I'm sure he'll understand."

"But what about the Pikachu?"

"I don't know what he'll do with it."

"It looked pretty rough."

"I'm sure it did. Pikachu are naturally skittish. They don't attack people too often- they mostly just run away."

"Well this one was nasty."

"I'm sure it was just scared."

I shrugged. I had seen it attack that Spearow, but those birds are easily provoked. Maybe the little guy was still freaking out over that, and I had just come across it during a bad time.

My stomach growled, making Gary chuckle.

"Hungry?"

"I've got spaghetti waiting for me at home."

"Well, go eat. I'll talk to Gramps in the morning and see what he says."

"Okay. See you at school."

"See ya."

I walked down the steps of the porch and was about to head home when a thought hit me. I stopped.

"Hey, Gary?"

"Yeah?"

"Random question, but... Do you know where Belgium is?"

He shrugged. "Never heard of it. Why?"

"Just curious. I... heard someone mention it." I remembered that dream I had when I had been knocked out. It was so vivid... Belgium, Universal... And what the heck is Florida? "Never mind. Goodnight."

"Night."

I had a hard time falling asleep that evening. The Pikachu wouldn't leave my thoughts. I tossed and turned and kept looking at the clock... Midnight... Its eyes were so angry... 1 am... Why did it attack me...? 2:30 am... Was it hurt...? 3:15 am...

A loud knock at my door woke me up. "Renny!" Mom's voiced sounded from the other side. "Your alarm's been going off for five minutes!"

She was right, it was. I rolled out of bed. The morning sun shone through the windows and stun my eyes. I hit about five other things on my night stand before my hand actually found the "off" button on my alarm clock. 6:30 am. Kill me.

I rubbed my face and slapped myself, tying to wake up. I don't think I'd ever been so tired. Never tried coffee before, but at this moment it felt like a pretty good option.

I fell asleep at breakfast. Mom must have seen it coming, because she ran into the room and caught my head before my face fell into my cereal bowl. She looked me up and down.

"Sweetie, are you okay? Do you feel sick?"

"No," I yawned. "I had a hard time falling asleep last night."

"Well, go splash some cold water on your face. You're gonna be late for school."

Mom's philosophy: if I'm not throwing up or bleeding out, I'm fine enough to go to school. You'd think that having a nurse for a mother would come with the perk that any sign of physical weakness would be a call for bed rest. But she had seen far worse at the hospital than anything my body could dish out. And if I ever complained she would start listing the various objects she had pulled out of people's butts until I did what she asked.

I groaned and put my forehead on the table. Dr. Thunder was napping at my feet. He looked so content.

"Take me with you," I whispered.

"A salt shaker, an onion, a tree branch-"

"Oh my god, I'm already gone!" I jumped up, grabbed my backpack and nearly ran out the door. I could hear Mom giggling behind me.

"Have fun at school."

I gave her the weakest wave of my life as a reply, and then I was out the door. Gary was waiting for me at the end of the driveway.

"You look like crap."

"Yeah. I know." I started towards the bus stop without pausing. He walked beside me.

"So I told Gramps about that Pikachu this morning."

Oh yeah. I nearly forgot. "What did he say?"

"It was weird. He just took the PokeBall and said he was going to his office. I asked if it was a problem, and he just kept repeating, 'It's fine. It's fine.'"

"Did he sound mad?"

"Couldn't tell."

"Crap."

Gary told me not to worry about it, but I did. I had a lot of respect for the old professor and never wanted to make him upset or, worse, disappointed. The worrying kept me awake all through the bus ride, history class, and algebra, but by the time myths and legends rolled around, I was too exhausted to function as a human being. Lucky for me, Mrs. Fink never looks up from her overhead projector during her lectures, so I was free to snooze. I felt a little bad, since I normally enjoyed this class (I had picked it as my elective, after all), but today a dragon splitting itself in two in ancient Unova could not keep my attention.

I had just found a comfortable way to rest my face in my hand when I felt a paper hornet hit the back of my neck. I slowly turned to see Gary grinning innocently at me from the back of the room. The rubber band was still stretched out between his fingers. He waved. I made a mental note to "accidentally" hit him in the head with a basketball during gym.

We had a substitute teacher for math class. It was the last class of the day, which meant that no one was paying attention to the poor man as he struggled to take attendance. He paused when he reached my name. "I- uh... Irene Crimson? Did I get that right?"

"Renny's fine."

There were three pronunciations of my full name, which was surprisingly popular the year I was born, and everyone seemed to go by a different one. There was eye-REEN, eye-REEN-EE, and ear-RAY-nuh. My mom had gone with that last one. I never cared which one people used, but I went by Renny to make it easier on the rest of the world. It seemed to fit me better, anyway.

Gary entered the classroom, carrying a note that he handed to the sub before sitting down. He rubbed the spot on his head where my basketball had hit him.

"Just got a call from home," he said. "Gramps wants to see us in his lab when we get back from school."

Uh oh. "Do you think it's about that Pikachu?"

"It's gotta be."

I sat back in my seat. "I'm so dead."

"Yeah, probably."

"Thanks."

"It's weird that he's in the lab today, though. He hasn't gone there in weeks."

It was strange. Sure, the place was still in his name, but he was retired. And he had never asked us to go there before. (I normally made surprise appearances.)

We didn't bother stopping at home- just went straight to the lab. Gary led the way down the hall to the main laboratory. Professor Oak was sitting at his old desk in the back corner of the room. I remember it was always cluttered with notebooks, papers, and manila folders. He once told me, "Disorganization is the sign of a true researcher!" But now the desk was completely bare, save for a set of keys, a dozen PokeBalls, and that small package I found in the box yesterday. The letter had been torn off.

The professor was reading from an old leather journal and didn't notice us right away. He looked up, closed the journal, and placed it to the side. He was smiling.

"Good to see you two."

"Hey." Gary hopped up on the closest workbench, letting his backpack slide off his arm and onto the floor. "What's up, Gramps?"

Oak said nothing, but took one of the PokeBalls off the table. He held it out to me.

"You forgot this last night."

"Uh..." I could feel my face getting red. Was his mind acting up again? "No, Professor. That's yours."

"Is it?" He reached into his lab coat pocket and took out two pieces of paper. He unfolded them and laid them out on the desk. He pushed one towards me, and I read it. It was a registration certificate for six PokeBalls, licensed by Dr. Samuel T. Oak, PhD to... me.

"No way." I checked the serial number on the bottom of the PokeBall. It matched the fourth one down the list. Son of a gun. "This is mine."

The professor chuckled. He looked so excited I thought he was going to burst out of his chair.

"What?" Gary picked up the other paper. It was his, of course. His jaw dropped. "Gramps, you didn't!"

"Daisy and I were going to surprise you kids when school got out, but after, uh..." He struggled for a moment, but gave up and just motioned to me. "Things changed."

My eyes ran over the document again. This was happening. This was actually happening! "So does this mean that we get, you know, one of the three?"

"Eh. I'm not in a position to do that anymore." He inclined his head to the PokeBall in my hand. "But there's your first Pokemon right there."

"What, the Pikachu?" I was still reveling in what was going on, but I couldn't forget the fury in that little mouse's face. "But it's wild."

"Yes, I know," Oak glanced down at the corner of his coat, and I noticed a small scorch mark. "I let him out for a bit. He's a handful."

"He?"

"Yes, it's a male."

Gary was leaning against the workbench, his mouth still hanging open in amazement. "Gramps... I don't know what to say."

The professor looked at his grandson with so much pride, I could tell he wasn't sure what to say either. He cleared his throat and reached for the small parcel.

"There's something else I want to give you." He gingerly, and with some difficulty, started taking the brown paper off the package. Gary moved to help.

"You want me to-"

"No, I-I got it."

Beneath the paper was a white box. There was a symbol on it that I didn't recognize. It looked like a lower-case U with a tear drop hanging off its left side. Oak took off the top to reveal two red devices with a blue light in the upper-left corner. He held one out to us.

"Whoa, Gramps, what's that?"

"I had the idea back before the war, but never got the funding to make it a reality. I call it a PokeDex."

Cool. "What does it do?" I asked.

"It, uh... It lets people- trainers- enter their own information about the Pokemon they encounter. All that information is sent to a central computer. It was going to be a way of studying Pokemon behavior on a large scale."

For a moment, the professor was almost like his old self. It was though just describing this little device to us chipped away the illness and brought out the real Oak. I glanced at Gary. From his smile I could see he noticed it too.

"These two are only prototypes," he went on. "Very simple from what I wanted them to be, but I just had to know... I needed to make sure that my idea worked before..." His face fell for a moment, and my stomach tightened. I didn't want to hear the rest of that sentence.

He shook himself out of it and handed a PokeDex to each of us. "Gary, Renny, will you take these with you and humor an old man?"

I think my heart just died a little. Even if I didn't want to, I had to say yes.

A couple hours later I was lying on the floor of my bedroom, absent-mindedly opening and closing the PokeDex. Oak may have called it simple, but I couldn't make heads or tails of how to work this thing. I had succeeded in turning it on, setting the date and time, and... that was it.

I sat up and picked up the PokeBall that held the wild Pikachu. Eventually I would have to let him out, but just the thought of facing him again made me nervous. I never did find out what Gary's first Pokemon would be. The professor had asked me to leave so he could speak to his grandson in private. There were still a million questions I had for him, though: How do I tame a Pikachu? How do I enter things into the PokeDex? We're getting our trainer's licenses now, right?? We can enter the Pokemon League now, right???

I tossed the PokeBall up a down a few times, contemplating on my next move. Mom would be home in a few hours, and I know she would want to see my first Pokemon, no matter what it was. She'd freak if she saw how mean this thing was... I had to try.

Grabbing a set of rubber gloves from under the sink, I ran to the smallest barn at Gary's place. It was empty, not even a Zubat hanging from the rafters. All the Pokemon must still be out, enjoying the good weather.

I slipped on the gloves and took the PokeBall out of my pocket. Here goes nothing- or something really stupid.

When the Pikachu came out of the ball, I expected it to be just as aggressive as he was before, but instead he looked like he had just woken up from a nap. He yawned and stretched his neck before looking at his surroundings. He sniffed the air and parts of the ground and nosed through a pile of straw. Even though he was still covered in mud and his fur was ragged, he was pretty cute.

He didn't seem to notice me at first, so I let him explore a bit before I tried anything. I bent my knees to make myself look smaller and took a few steps towards him, my hand outstretched like I was going to offer him something.

"Hey... Hey, little guy. You're okay, right? Not crazy?"

The Pikachu snapped his head in my direction. He took an offensive stance and hissed.

"Ugh... Look, buddy. You and I are gonna be partners now, so I really need you to-"

He yowled at me, and sparks started to dance around his cheeks.

"Come on, Pikachu, don't do this again. Please?"

"Having trouble?"

Gary was standing outside, leaning against the wooden barn gate. There was a small Pokemon at his feet, but the planks blocked it from my view.

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

"So, status normal?"

"HAH!" I shot him a dirty look and approached the gate. "What'd you get? I wanna see!"

"Oh yeah," Gary bent down to pick up his new companion. It was an Eevee- fluffy and bright-eyed and too adorable for words!!!

"Awwwwww!!!" I scratched its head, and it closed its eyes with delight. "It's so precious!"

"Her name's Nova." Gary set her down on the gate next to him and propped himself up, swinging his legs over. "Gramps got her from a breeder in Celadon City." He smiled and pet Nova's back. "My mom was always fond of Eevees."

"That's so sweet."

"Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his head. Gary's parents were a very rare topic of conversation. He always got quiet whenever they were brought up. I decided to change the subject.

"So... What do you think I should do about sparkplug over there?"

The Pikachu hadn't moved, but he hadn't backed down from his stance either. He was watching us both like a Fearow. What had this thing gone through to make him so angry?

"Pikachu live in packs," Gary explained. "And in every pack, there's always an alpha. You need to assert yourself as that alpha."

"And how in the world do I do that?"

"Well, first off, don't be scared. He can smell your fear."

"Easy for you to say," I motioned to Nova, who had curled up on Gary's lap. "Your Pokemon's a peach."

Gary shrugged. "You're gonna get nowhere if you don't try."

He was right. If I was going to be a real Pokemon trainer, I had to be able to deal with this kind of stuff. I took a deep breath and started moving at a Slowpoke's pace towards him, my hand outstretched as I did before. It was shaking. Don't be scared, Crimson. It's your Pokemon. You can't be afraid of it.

"Hey. Me again. You look pretty rough, don't ya? Let me take a look at you, uh..." A name. I needed a name. I couldn't keep calling it "Pikachu." He needed something cool. Something like... "Hamish."

"Hamish?"

"Yeah," I turned back to Gary. "Doesn't he look like a Hamish?"

"He looks like he's about to bite your head off."

"What?"

The Pikachu- err, Hamish- was charging at me, electricity on full-blast. I covered my head and dove into a pile of straw. The electric shock hit the wall behind me, leaving a scorch mark in the wood. I gulped, realizing that could have been my face.

"Alright, that's enough of that!" Gary jumped off the gate, his Eevee landing beside him. "Nova, go teach him a lesson!"

Nova crouched and bounded over to Hamish, who prepared himself for the brawl. As Nova reached her foe, a look a fierce determination in her eyes... she rolled over on her back and batted at the air playfully in Hamish's direction. The Pikachu sat back on his haunches, confused.

Gary's shoulders fell. "No, Nova. You're supposed to attack him!"

Nova looked back at him, clearly not understanding.

"You know." He punched his hand to demonstrate. "Hit him."

The Eevee stared at him blankly. Gary put his face in his hand.

I had to laugh. If my Pokemon was too aggressive, his was too passive. We were off to a great start.

I stood up. "I guess they both need a lot of practice."

"I'm not asking for anything complicated," said Gary with some exasperation. "Nova could just tackle him for all I care."

Nova's ears pricked up. She jumped to her feet and rammed her head into Hamish's stomach. He evidently hadn't expected the attack, and it sent him flying ten feet away. He skidded across the ground to a stop.

Gary clapped his hands together. "That's what I'm talking about!"

Oh, duh. Nova was from a breeder. She was probably conditioned to obey certain word cues, like "tackle." I wondered if I could get Hamish to do the same.

"Hang in there, Hamish. Tackle her back!"

Hamish responded by preparing another electric attack.

"...Or just stick with the thundershock. That works too."

The Pikachu let loose the lightening and missed. Horribly. The attack struck a spot about three feet from where Nova was standing.

Gary didn't waste time. "Tackle him again, Nova! Before he can charge back up!"

Nova did as he asked and charged at Hamish. She sent him flying again. This time he hit the side of the barn and he fell to the ground. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving.

I gasped. "She killed him!"

"No, no, no!" Gary reassured me. "He's just unconscious. It happens sometimes when Pokemon are too tired to fight. He was already pretty beaten up, so it didn't take much."

All the same I ran over to him and knelt by his side. I felt his chest. His little heart was racing, and he was breathing. I sighed in relief. He was fine. Or was he? My thumb rubbed up against some kind of bump. I parted his fur and found a large sore on his side. Checking the rest of him, I found at least a dozen more. Nova hadn't caused these, either. They were old. He was in bad shape.

"Oh, buddy," I pet his head. His fur would've been soft if it wasn't for the caked mud. "Who hurt you?"

I shifted my weight and felt something in my pocket. I took it out. It was that free sample potion I had grabbed yesterday (I rarely ever empty my pockets). I read the label, SAVE A TRIP TO THE POKECENTER! HEAL YOUR POKEMON ON THE GO! SIMPLY APPLY GENTLY TO ANY FLESH WOUND! Under the words a Pikachu wearing a nurse's hat was winking and giving a thumbs-up. Ironic.

It was worth a shot. I took of the top and sprayed the potion on every sore I could find. It was a small bottle, but I tried not to use the whole thing in case I needed more later...

_"Hey, honey?"_

_"Yeah?" I look up from my laptop. C---- is standing in the doorway of the office._

_"Eevee threw up again."_

_"Can you clean it up? I'm really busy."_

_"So am I."_

_"Babe-"_

_"I got it last time."_

_"Fine." I stand and get the cleaner from the closet. "Where is it?"_

_"Living room."_

_As I spray the carpet I see Eevee lying nearby. Her tail is wrapped around her body, and her paws and tucked underneath her. She looks so small and tired. I press my forehead against hers and rub her back gently._

_"Not feeling good, girl?"_

_She "mrrrows." I think she understands me sometimes._

_I wish for the hundredth time that I can afford to take her to the vet..._

I put the potion back in my pocket and gently picked up Hamish, cradling him. "We don't have a PokeCenter in Pallet, though."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Is he okay?" Gary asked as I pass him.

"I'm not sure. I'm gonna take him home and get him cleaned up. Thanks, Gary. I'll see you later."

After setting Hamish on a folded towel in my backyard, I dragged my old kiddy pool out from the shed. I poured in some of my body wash and filled it with warm water by taking a bucket back and forth from the kitchen sink.

I gently lowered Hamish into the bath. Some of the mud seeped off of him immediately. Making sure to keep his head above water, I scrubbed him with a washcloth. It took a bit, but I finally got to a point where I could distinguish the brown stripes on his back from the rest of his fur. He was now a bright yellow and more resembled those Pikachu on the Silph Co commercials than he did before. There was still that chuck taken out of his tale, though. I looked at it. The wound was still scabbed. This had happened recently. My heart had to go out for the little guy. He had had it rough. No wonder he was so violent.

I rinsed him off, dried him as best I could, and re-applied the rest of the potion to his worse sores. I made a bed for him on the couch and laid him down. He didn't stir the whole time, but his constant breathing told me he was just zonked out. I sat on the couch next to him, watching him sleep. With his face so peaceful and his fur so clean, it was hard to believe he was that same crazy Pikachu I found in the woods yesterday. Maybe he could become a good partner for me, if I kept at this.

A yawn reminded me of how little sleep I had gotten the night before. I put my head on the arm rest opposite of Hamish and covered myself with a blanket. It wasn't long before I was out, and we slept there just like that, even after Mom came home and found us.


	4. Eye of the Growlithe

The last two weeks of school dragged on like you wouldn't believe.

Every day felt like a battle of will between me and the clock. I wanted it to move faster, but it had other ideas. One minute turned into 20, an hour into a day, and so on. Concentrating in class was nearly impossible, and my leg uncontrollably bounced with anticipation and excitement. During lunch, Gary and I would plan out a calendar as to how we were going to prepare for the upcoming League competition.

It took hours of convincing, pleading, and bribing Mom with shoulder massages and the pledge of cooking breakfast every day until I left for college to finally get her to sign my application for a Pokemon League trainer's license.

"That Pikachu of yours is too wild," she protested one morning. The evening I had brought Hamish into the house, he woke up and proceeded to run everywhere, looking for an exit. He had broken some picture frames and knocked over a lamp in the process. It hadn't exactly been the best first impression. "Besides, I've seen those battles on TV. They're so violent!"

"That's the point." When I realized that was not going to help my position I added, "That's Red Division, Mom. For professionals only. I would be in the Yellow Division. They don't televise those battles. Everyone will be a beginner like me."

It wasn't until she walked outside a couple days later and found me washing the windows that she finally laughed and gave in. I was over the moon.

Hamish had taken to living in the small barn. I made visits every day after school to see if he would warm up to me. He must have known that it was me that had cleaned him up, because in the very first day I noticed a change in his behavior. He didn't approach me, and we were by no means buddy-buddy, but he never tried to attack me again. Normally he would just climb up onto the hayloft and observe me, sometimes pacing back and forth with suspicion.

For my part I just sat on the ground with my back against the wall and either did homework or read the Pokemon League rules out loud or talked to him. Some days he would stick around to listen. Other times he would go hide somewhere or rest in the straw for a nap. I always made sure to leave some food and a bowl of water when I left. And the next day, it was always gone.

Now, the Pokemon League didn't issue trainers licenses to just anyone who applied. There was a written test you had to take to prove you knew the basics of battling and handling a Pokemon. They also required a two-day crash course in survival skills, since partaking in the League meant tons of backpacking and sleeping under the stars.

Gary started joining me in my daily visits to Hamish, and we would study for the League test. One day we went over the exam from two years ago. I sat facing away from where Hamish usually stayed, leaning back on my hands. Gary sat cross-legged, Nova curled up beside him, and the practice test open on his lap.

"Okay," he read the next question. "You have a Drowzee out in battle, and your opponent sends out a Haunter. Psychic-type Pokemon are known to have a disadvantage against ghost-type Pokemon, but this Drowzee is the last in your party that is able to battle. What do you do?"

"Trick question," I replied. "Haunter is also a poison-type, so I would still use one of Drowzee's psychic attacks."

"Nice, nice," He was about to go to the next question when he stopped and looked at something just past me. He grinned.

As much as I wanted to, I didn't dare turn around. I mouthed, "Is he right behind me?" Gary gave me a slight nod. I thought my heart was going to leap into my throat with excitement.

"Alright," Gary continued. "Same scenario, but this time your opponent has used an X Defend."

As I gave my answer I felt a small, sniffing nose touch my finger.

The day school got out I literally threw off my backpack and did cartwheels in the yard. I ran home from the bus stop and dug out my old baseball and a couple gloves. Gary and I tossed it back and forth just outside the small barn. I had read online somewhere that it was good practice for PokeBall-throwing.

"Go low this time," I said, tossing the ball up and down. "I'm aiming for a Caterpie. They're small."

Gary complied, putting his glove on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Hamish watching at the barn entrance.

I threw the ball, probably a little too fast, and it landed square in the palm of Gary's glove. He silently made a face of pain and took his hand out, shaking it.

"You're gonna kill the Caterpie before the ball can even open. Jeeze."

All the same I took off my glove and let it fall like a mic drop. I looked over at Hamish, and I swear he rolled his eyes at me before disappearing back into the barn.

I started doing morning jogs. I woke up with the sun, made a protein shake (immediately regretted it), and took a few laps around the ranch. During one of these excursions I had a surprise guest. I heard some rustling next to me and looked down to see Hamish running at my side. I gasped. Was this it? Were we friends now?!

Judging by his next actions, it was hard to say.

He shot me a sly glance before taking off, leaving me in the dust. I had to stop. He was fast!

Hamish paused at the old bridge and looked back as if to see if I was still going. I furrowed my brow. Was he trying to race me? I met him at the bridge. He was watching me expectantly.

"Alright," I crouched down in a runner's starting position. "On your mark, get- hey!"

He took off like a shot. I sprinted to catch up to him. "Little cheater."

I'm pretty sure he slowed down on purpose, because as soon as I was a foot in front of him, he kicked it into overdrive and dashed all the way back to the barn before I could even make it halfway there. He was waiting for me when I reached the entrance. I leaned against my knees to catch my breath.

"That was awesome, buddy," I raised my hand. "High-five!"

He didn't take it. Instead he narrowed his eyes playfully and exuded some sparks from his cheeks before running back into the barn. I laughed. He was totally showboating!

I stood up straight. So the little guy was competitive, huh? That gave me an idea.

The next day I bought a twelve-pack of Ditto Cola cans. I chugged five of them and set them on different posts in the barn. I gathered some rocks from outside and threw one at the first can. It came nowhere near to touching it.

"Oh no," I said over-dramatically. "I missed. If only there was someone in this barn who had better aim than me."

I had to wait a moment, but he took the bait. Hamish appeared out from the pile of hay bales and sent a thundershock at the first can. He hit it square in the middle and sent it flying off the post.

"Not bad, not bad," I pretended to be only semi-impressed, but on the inside I was bursting with joy. "But can you get all of them?"

He snorted defiantly and sent out four more thundershocks. The first three hit their marks, but the fourth shot past the can and hit the barn behind it.

"Ooooo, tough break, pal. Try again."

He did, with a vengeance. He hit this can so hard that it ricocheted off the wall and landed at my feet, charred.

"Nice!" I gathered the cans and put them back on the posts. I picked up my rocks. "Okay, this time whoever hits the most wins. Go!"

I threw the first rock before he was ready (payback), and knocked off the middle can. He tried to make up for lost time, but only hit two of the cans. I could throw fast, and I made quick work of getting the last two.

I thrust my fists into the air. "Victory for the human!"

Hamish ran to one of the cans and climbed the post, putting it back.

I laughed. "Alright, best two out of three." That's when my bladder sent me a very urgent message. "After I take care of business."

I ran back to my house with the biggest smile on my face.

It became a routine. Hamish would show up like clockwork to beat me in a morning race, and then in the afternoon we would compete to see who could kill the most cans. Sometimes I won, sometimes he did. I added more every day, too, to make it harder. Competing against me seemed to be the best training program, because his aim got better and better.

I decided to start him on some moving targets. I took my slingshot and launched rocks into the air. It took a while, but he got the hang of hitting them. His record became 37 in a row.

"There's not a flying-type alive that's gonna dodge your lightning!" I offered up a high-five. Feeling immensely pleased with himself, he jumped up and slapped his paw against my palm. I couldn't believe this- I was actually training a Pokemon!

That night we had one heck of a storm. The wind howled and pelted the rain against the side of our house. Thunder shook the foundation.

I was nearly asleep when I heard a frantic scratching at my window. Rolling over I peered through the darkness and saw a small shape just outside.

"Hamish?" I ran to the window, undid the latch, and lifted it. Hamish, soaking wet, leapt into my room, followed by barrage of rain. He clung to my T-shirt, shaking.

"Whoa. Hey, buddy, are you okay?" It was difficult, but I managed to shut the window with only one arm. I patted Hamish's head. "What's wrong, did something get you?"

Lightning flashed, immediately followed by a deafening boom of thunder. Hamish squealed and clambered over my shoulder. He dashed for my bed and vanished under it. I looked from the window and back to my bed in disbelief.

"Wait. Let me get this straight." I knelt down so I could look under the bed. Hamish was huddled in a corner, his tail wrapped around him for protection. "You're a Pikachu- an electric-type- that's afraid of thunderstorms?"

He whimpered in reply.

I sat up and sighed. "I'll be right back." Going to my closet, I changed into a clean T-shirt and then grabbed a towel from the bathroom. I spread it out by my bed.

"Hey," I laid on my stomach so I could see him. "You should get dry. Mom's not gonna like you getting the carpet all wet and muddy. You'll feel better, too."

He shook his head, but another bought of thunder scared him enough to run out and bury his face in my arm. I wrapped him in the towel and sat on my bed. I grabbed a flashlight from my nightstand and pulled my blanket completely over the both of us. I turned on the flashlight so we could see.

"There. Is that better?"

Hamish did nothing but shake. His nose was twitching like crazy. I scratched his head. This was the first time I had really gotten a close look at him since his bath. His sores were all but gone now. That potion stuff worked great.

"I can stay awake with you if you want." I yawned. "Or, at least, I can try."

I settled down and wrapped my arm around him, towel and all. He buried himself into it so that only his ears and the top of his head stuck out. I pulled him close to me. Even through the towel, I could feel his little heartbeat.

"You're such a strange Pikachu," I murmured. "Not docile at all, and you're scared of a little thunder and lightning." My eyelids were heavy. They closed on their own. "What a silly 'mon you are..."

The rain was still pouring the next morning, but the thunder and lightning had stopped. So much for our morning run.

When I woke up I found Hamish's towel empty. I panicked a little and sat up.

"Hamish?" I looked around. Nothing was broken, so he hadn't gone on a rampage. My door had been closed. He was still in here, somewhere.

I checked under the bed. No luck. I went through my closet, my drawers, my desk- No Hamish. I was just about to run and get Mom when I noticed a spot of yellow in my hamper. I lifted up a couple layers of clothes to find he had made a nest out of my T-shirts and socks.

"Good morning, sire," I teased. "Sleep well?"

He stood up and stretched, yawning.

"I'm surprised you could stand the smell."

That night must have sealed the deal for Hamish, because he insisted on following me wherever I went in the house (there were some negotiations about bathroom etiquette). I brought him to the kitchen, where Dr. Thunder was staring at his empty food bowl, hoping for breakfast.

"Alright, Thunder, meet Lightning." I set Hamish next to the Slowpoke and got them each a bowl of chow. Made myself some toast and sat on the floor with them, sharing a meal.

Mom was surprised to find the three of us like that, and she gasped when she saw Hamish.

"What is he doing in here?"

"It's okay, Mom." I reassured her, petting my Pikachu's head. "He's finally coming around."

She didn't look completely convinced, but knelt down next to him. She offered a hand for him to sniff. He looked her up and down, unsure, as if trying to figure her out. For a moment, I was nervous he would take off running, but he licked the tip of her forefinger and went back to eating.

Mom giggled. "Alright, he can stay in the house as long as he behaves."

"I don't think we'll have a problem with that anymore." I sounded confident, but I crossed my fingers behind my back, just in case.

A rainy day meant a TV day. So I grabbed some Ditto Cola and a bag of chips and settled on the couch for the inevitable marathon of daytime crap. Hamish moved to join me, but paused when he saw the TV turn on. His nose twitched with curiosity and, crouching low to the floor, pawed his way to it cautiously. After some hesitation he brought his face close to the screen. I heard a small crack as the static electricity attacked his nose. He didn't flinch, but he moved his ears up and down a couple times. He then turned back to me with a look of approval, as if to say that, yes, the glowing box was a good thing.

"You learn fast, Hamish." I reached into the chip bag and held one out to him. "Chip?"

As expected, there was nothing decent on. I surfed through the channels, thinking I was going to be stuck with reruns of 150 Minutes, until I got to KSN (Kanto Sports Network). There was a Pokemon League battle on. One of the Elite 4 members, Agatha, was being challenged by a Red Division trainer. The guy had just released a Nidorino against Agatha's strongest Gengar, Mortdecai. I gasped. I recognized this fight- it was from last year's League Finals. They must be playing these in honor of the new season starting.

I grabbed the phone and called Gary. He and Nova were over in an instant. Mortdecai had just kicked the crap out of Nidorino when Gary plopped on the couch. I tossed him a can of cola.

The trainer sent out an Onix.

"She's so cool," I leaned forward, transfixed. "Look at that Gengar, he's a beast!"

Gary shrugged. "She's alright."

I threw a chip at him. He knew Agatha was my favorite Elite 4 member. I had read her autobiography Life Among the Spirits from cover to cover half a dozen times. She'd been in the game long before the League had even existed. She was the oldest professional battler in Kanto, was one of the few trainers to actually retain the title of Pokemon Master, and in her interviews she always gave the reporters a run for their money with her wit. She was seriously the best.

"I just think Lance is cooler."

"Um, excuse me. Do you know how hard it is to train ghosts?"

"Um, do you know how hard it is to train dragons?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's the cape, isn't it?"

"I'm thinking about getting one for the competition." He squared his shoulders and turned from side to side. "What do you think, could I pull it off?"

"Not in this lifetime."

Mortdecai was dancing circles around Onix, who hadn't gotten a single hit in. I nudged Hamish, who was also watching the match intently.

"You see that, Hamish? That's gonna be us one day."

"Yeah," Gary cracked open a can of cola. "You guys will be Onix, and Nova and I will be Gengar."

I snorted. "First off, his name is Mortdecai. Second: if we end up fighting each other in the League, you're so dead."

Gary shook his head. "Nope, not possible. Oaks are natural over-achievers. It's in our blood. I'll be the champion before you can make it past the first Elite 4 member."

"That a challenge, sir?"

"It might be."

"Alright," I held up my can. "Let's drink on it. If one of us becomes the champion, the other gets a fair shot at challenging for the title."

"Done." We locked arms, downed our drinks, and crushed the cans on each other's heads. Hamish and Nova watched on like we were crazy.

The pact was made.


	5. Don't Break

I paced back and forth down the long hallway in Viridian High School. It had been nearly an hour since Gary and I finished the Pokemon League Qualification Test. The survival course earlier that week had been a breeze, but this test had thrown a few curveballs at me. I couldn't wait until the results were posted. There were only seven of us who had taken it. How long could it take to grade them?

Mom had taken the day off work to drive Gary and me to the test. She sat on one of the fold-out chairs set up in the hallway, reading a newspaper. Gary was next to her, arms folded, staring at the floor. He watched my feet as I went past. By the 9th round he spoke up.

"Could you sit down? You're making me nervous."

"I can't help it!" I wrung my hands together. "Some of those questions were harder than I thought they'd be. How was I supposed to know the benefits of zinc and carbos?!"

"You're allowed to get a few wrong."

Mom lowered her newspaper. "Honey, you've studied so hard. I'm sure you passed."

I looked at my watch. Fifty-six minutes had passed. The wait was unbearable. "I just need to get my mind off it. Mom, what's going on in the world?"

"Well," She looked back to the paper. "Hah, it looks like Rocket Corp is in trouble. Their stock dropped like a stone in the last week. They're going to lay off 200 people."

"Good," said Gary bitterly.

She read from the article. "When asked for a statement CEO Emilio Giovanni told the Kanto Times, 'This is just a minor setback in Rocket Corp's development. I'm not permitted to say what exactly, but we have a few things in the works that will bring us back stronger than ever before. But as our slogan promises, we will always protect the world from devasta-' Oh for Mew's sake!" Mom grimaced. "What a load. If he really wants to do the world a favor, he should step down and let someone else take over. Make the company respectable again like his father did."

Rocket Corp had its critics, but my family and the Oaks had a particular disdain for company. They manufactured and sold weapons, and the war in Sinnoh had been great for business. Unfortunately, it had been tough for the rest of us. Gary's dad was an army surgeon and his mom a colonel. My dad was a private in her regiment. A newly-developed bomb from Rocket Corp had malfunctioned and went off close enough to their camp to... Well, I'm sure you get the idea.

No one was sure if my dad was ever there for the explosion. His body was never found, nor were any of his belongings. There were rumors that he had deserted, but nothing was confirmed. For my part, I couldn't decide which was worse.

The families of the deceased filed a huge lawsuit against Rocket Corp. It took months. The company even tried to silence them with "compensation" for their losses. Mom tore up the check as soon as it came in the mail. She never told me how much it was for, but I knew it was a lot.

I remember the day of the trial. I was seven. Mom led me, toting a bag of coloring books, into the courtroom. As we sat down, she pointed out Giovanni to me. He was at the front of the room, wearing a tailored suit.

"You see that man?" She asked me. "We're going to put him in jail."

But it quickly became apparent that we weren't. Giovanni had too much at stake. His signature was on every paper approving the new bomb, including one that deemed it ready to use in the field, despite some warnings from the guys down at the lab. He made sure to hire the best and most expensive lawyers in Kanto. Some thought the judge might have been paid off too, but that was just another rumor.

I didn't understand everything that was going on, but I could see Mom getting angrier and angrier. Without a word, she grabbed my hand and nearly dragged me out of the room, tears streaming down her face. I looked back, and the last thing I saw before leaving was Giovanni sitting calm and collected on the witness stand. I learned a lot of new words during the car ride home that day.

Mom and Gary seemed to hold a bigger grudge than I did, but still, hearing that Rocket Corp was faltering made me feel pretty good.

The League official came out of the classroom with a sheet of paper. She held up her hand when the seven of us rushed to her.

"Give me a chance to put it up before you all swarm me." She taped it to the wall, and we gathered around it.

Gary had the highest score (figures), a 97%. I was fourth with an 86% (you needed at least an 80% to pass). One kid hadn’t made the cut, and he ran down the hallway, his dad on his heels. "Joey, it'll be fine! There's always next year!"

Poor guy. I felt bad for him, but at the same time... OH MY GOD!!!

I repeatedly hit Gary's shoulder with excitement, and Mom hugged us both. We were in!

The gyms in the Pokemon League would begin accepting challenges in five days. Gary and I decided to leave a day early to get a head start on traveling. It was time to prepare.

Mom bought me a new backpack, one that was meant for long-distance travel and carrying a bunch of stuff, as well as a one-person tent that came with a sleeping bag. I raided our shed and basement of every survival thing I could think of. Daisy gave Gary and I each an extensive directory of Kanto, which included detailed maps of every pedestrian route and highway.

Hamish and I continued our daily training. He became more enthusiastic about it than I was and would paw at me until I got up for our jog. If I took too long, he got impatient.

"Just so you know," I told him one morning while I was tying my shoes. "When we're on the road, we're not going to do this every day."

He was too busy scratching at the door to pay attention.

Gary showed me how to enter information into the PokeDex. I only had one entry so far; it was for Pikachu: "Very moody, approach with caution. Loves hot sauce on everything, especially popcorn. It keeps its tail raised to monitor its surroundings. If you yank its tail, it will try to bite you."

That last, more professional-sounding part I got from a Ditto Cola label. I wasn't sure what else to write. Besides, it was good to know.

Two nights before we were supposed to leave, I went over to Gary's to ask if he had any extra batteries. I paused halfway down the driveway. Raised voices were sounding from inside the house. Oh boy.

I waited, wondering if I should go home and come back in the morning. Then I heard the front door. Gary held it open, yelling back into the house.

"Just don't blame me when I come back home and you think I'm a stranger!"

Oh boy. I ran back down the driveway. There was a bush by the fence that was able to hide me. I hoped it was dark enough so that Gary hadn’t spotted me. Luck was in my favor. He looked genuinely surprised to see me when he walked by.

"Hey!" I said cheerfully, pretending I hadn't just heard... that. "I was just coming over to see you."

"Yeah?" Gary wiped his face. "What's up?"

"Uh..." Should I tell him? "Um, you okay?"

"Yeah, what do you want?" His tone was sharp.

"Oh. I was just wondering if you guys had any triple-A batteries."

"Yeah." His word of choice at the moment. "They're in the kitchen. Daisy can show you."

"Thanks..." He turned to leave, and I wondered if that was all he was going to say. I started to walk towards the house.

"Renny?"

"Yeah?" My turn.

He scratched his head. "I can't do this."

"Do what?" I already knew, though.

"The League. I can't do it."

"Yes you can! You're totally capable of-"

"No! I know I can... But I can't!" His voice cracked. He walked in a circle, both hands on his head. "Renny, you don't know... He's getting so bad. It's like he's a completely different person. Most of the time it's like- if he's not delirious he's irritable. Daisy had to come up with a jingle to help him remember our phone number, and even that's not helping now!" He let his arms fall. "Six times, Renny. He's forgotten my name six times! What if while I'm gone for the League he forgets about me altogether?"

I bit my lip, getting close to crying myself. "H-he remembered Daisy, and she was gone a long time."

"Did you miss the part where I said he's getting worse!" He was breathing heavily. "Besides, he can't cook for himself anymore. He can't tie his shoes. We've had to label the whole house so he remembers where things are!"

"Daisy can take care of him." My hands started shaking. I've never seen Gary this upset, and I hated not knowing what to do. "She'll be here the whole time."

"I can't make her babysit him."

"But what about you?"

"I know how to take care of him better than she does! She was at college. She didn't know how bad things were. I did everything!"

"Gary, why didn't you ask us for help?"

"I don't know!" He buried his face in his hands. "I don't know." He shook his head and stormed off. "I'm going for a walk."

I watched him, still shaking, unsure if I should follow him or not. The front door opened again. The professor slowly walked onto the porch and lowered himself into a chair. I looked between the two of them, then decided to go to the house...

_I'm crying before I shut the car door. B---- is in the passenger seat. She's crying too. She takes my hand._

_"We'll Skype all the time, okay?"_

_I nod. But I hate this. Why does she have to leave? Why Florida? She has nothing in Florida. I want to make her stay, but I know I can't. She's made up her mind._

_We hug and cry into each other's shoulders._

_"I'm gonna miss you so much," she whispers._

_"Me too." I can barely get the words out._

_"You're my best friend."_

_"I know."_

_We stay like this for a while. When we part, both our faces are red. We try to calm down by making jokes. Everyone is waiting for us in the bar. C---- will start to get worried._

_"Come on," she squeezes my hand. "Let's get some mini tacos..."_

I blinked. I must have zoned out, because I was suddenly on the porch.

"Hey, Renny!" Oak smiled at me as if nothing was wrong. "If you're looking for Gary, he's inside."

That did it. I sobbed and let out all the tears I was holding back. The professor frowned.

"Huh... Oh, dammit!" He hid his face in his hand and took a deep breath. "Come here, Renny."

I bent down to hug him and ended up crying harder into his chest. He rubbed my back. It made me think of that time he was babysat me when I was little, and I got sick and threw up about a dozen times. He had stayed with me, making sure I made it all into the toilet.

"Don't worry about me, kiddo. I'm going to be okay."

I wanted to believe him so bad. Wiping my eyes, I sat back on my heels. "I'm gonna work really hard on the PokeDex, I promise."

He squeezed my hand. "I know you will. But more than that, I want you to have fun, alright? Training Pokemon is an adventure."

I nodded, knowing that if I tried to speak again I'd just cry more.

"I've seen you and Hamish run around the yard," he smiled. "You two make quite a pair."

"Thanks."

He grew silent and looked down. He took another deep breath.

"Please take care of Gary." His eyes shone. "I fought with his father before he left, too."


End file.
